The Largest Ever Evacuation To Happen In Frankfurt After A WWII Bomb Is Discovered

An unexploded bomb from the Second World War has been found in the German city of Frankfurt, and 70,000 residents of the city will be evacuated on Sunday, making it the biggest evacuation due to a bomb disposal.

During building work on Wismarer Strasse in the Westend district, a British-made bomb was found spread over two meters of length weighing 1.8 tonnes. According to the German media, the bomb was named “Wohnblockknacker” that translates to “blockbuster, ” and it was designed to tear down entire streets and buildings.

The city holds a population of 717,000 inhabitants and about one tenth of this population is to leave their homes. The officers guarding the site say that there no danger posed to the residents yet.

An unexploded bomb found in Hildesheim in July. Image: DPA

The bomb according to the police is an HC 4000, the capacity bomb that British forces used in air raids. “Due to the large size of the bomb, extensive evacuation measures must be taken,” the police explained.

The location where the bomb is found is quite close to the city center and the main Zeil shopping area. The German Federal Bank and two hospitals also fall among the affected buildings.

The evacuation will begin Sunday and officials hope that it will be complete by midday, so the bomb defusing procedure can begin.

The event is not the first evacuation of its kind, and it is quite common for unexploded bombs to be found during building works in many areas of Germany. A similar happening forced a population of 54,000 people from the city of Augsburg to evacuate their homes when a 3.8-tonne bomb was found in the city. That was the biggest post-WWII evacuation of the time. Just this May, 50,000 people left their homes when a bomb was found in Hanover, and then again in July in Hildesheim and Stuttgart for disposal of WWII bombs.